It was a picture perfect evening in early June, warm but not oppressively hot. It couldn't have been better for the commencement ceremonies of the Walkerville High Class of 2004. The graduating seniors stayed as quiet as they could through the speeches, including of their valedictorian Dorothy Ann Parker. Finally, it was time to walk one-by-one onto the stage for their diplomas, officially ending their high school careers.

After the ceremony, everyone milled about the football field, the kids posing in their caps and gowns for a myriad of pictures with their proud families. The crowd was just starting to disperse when a short, energetic Asian girl yelled out, "C'mon gang! We need one of all of us!"

The others in said gang recognized Wanda's voice, and moved towards it.

"OK, everyone line up on my left and right side," Wanda commanded.

"You just have to be in the center don't you," Keesha teased.

"It's not my fault I'm the most photogenic of us," Wanda shot back.

After a few minutes of grumbling and jostling, the group settled on the order. Arnold, Dorothy Ann, and Tim stood on Wanda's left from the view of the picture taker (yes, she won the argument and got to be center). Ralphie, Keesha, Carlos, and Phoebe stood on Wanda's right. The eight posed until all their families got the shots they wanted. Once everyone was satisfied, the eight undraped their arms off each other and stood in a circle.

"I can't believe we finally made it! Freedom!" Carlos exclaimed.

"Yes, but it would've been nice if certain people hadn't fallen asleep during my speech," Dorothy Ann retorted, glaring at the boys.

"Hey, give us a break," said Ralphie. "With your speech, we at least tried to stay awake."

DA rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry that graduation speeches aren't about video games, football, and girls."

Wanda stopped DA before she could rant. "Not important. We have bigger priorities than lecturing, like where the party is."

"There's a camp in the woods being assembled as we speak. Beer has been promised to be plentiful," Tim answered.

"Your artist friends know how to hook everyone up," Carlos said as he high fived Tim.

"Alright, it's settled. Meet there in an hour," Wanda ordered.

"And what if we don't want to go to a loud party full of drunks?" Arnold asked.

"Don't be a wimp, Perlstein. We're finally free from this dump. It's time to kick back and celebrate a bit," Keesha said.

"Plus, we're not going to have many chances to all be together anymore," Phoebe softly added.

Everyone groaned and eye rolled at that. "Damn it, Pheebs! No feelings talk," Wanda said, exasperated.

With that, all dissent was quelled, and the friends went back to their respective families to go home and get ready for the party. The happiness and pride they felt were the overwhelming emotions at the moment, but what Phoebe said was buried in their subconscious. The eight of them had taken their third grade experiences with Miss Frizzle with them and formed a near unbreakable bond in the years that followed. They had even mostly dated each other in almost every combination possible, to the point that the rest of the school called them incestuous. In the end though, all eight of them agreed that the whole gang together as friends was what felt right.

They were each others second families as they went through school. They went through the hellish combination of puberty and middle school together. They gerrymandered their high school schedules as much as possible to take classes together. They went to each others games, musicals, and dance recitals. They studied for the SATs together (and made sure DA didn't break her brain in the process). They protected each other (well, mostly Arnold and Phoebe) from bullies.

However, the winds of change always win out in the end. Two months after Graduation night, the eight packed up and went to mostly separate colleges. Summers came and went, but usually at least one of them had some reason to not be around. Four years later, they scattered further as they began their adult lives. The eight had hoped they would be different than other groups of high school friends, but the inevitable had happened.

The one advantage the group had over groups past was the advent of social media. Thanks to Facebook and text messaging, they could still talk and know about each other lives. Still though, it wasn't the same and they knew it. When they could a group of two or three would meet for coffee or dinner when in town of the other, but in the first ten years after high school graduation, all eight had been together just twice. The first was to help Keesha bury and grieve her grandmother. The second was to see Arnold marry his college sweetheart.

Now, ten years after graduating, and twenty years after that fateful year of field trips, the gang would get their third chance at being all together. For in early May 2014, they all received the following in the mail.

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE 10 YEAR REUNION

OF THE WALKERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2004

TO BE HELD JUNE 21, 2014 AT WALKERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL